This invention relats generally to hand-held aerosol dispensers and more particularly to means for securing a valve assemblage to the open end of a dispensing container.
Prior pressurized dispensers have generally employed can-type containers having a domed top wall and a valve mounting cup, with peripheral edge portions of the latter crimped over the corresponding edge portion of the domed top. In virtually all cases, a rubber sealing gasket was employed, sandwiched between the crimped portions in order to provide a seal. In such constructions, the valve housing was usually mounted in an inverted, hollow portion of the valve mounting cup, the housing being crimped in place by suitable equipment, prior to the assembly of the valve mounting cup to the container.
Such a construction is illustrated in the copending application of Wolf Steiman and Steven W. Beres, U.S. Ser. No. 375,017 filed June 29, 1973 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,741, is issued Jan. 28, 1975 and having common ownership with the present application. Although the mounting arrangement for the valve housing as set forth in the above application was generally satisfactory, several disadvantages were apparent.
First two separate crimping operations were required. The first involved the securement of the valve housing in the inverted-hollow portion of the valve mounting cup. The second involved the crimping of the valve mounting cup itself onto the domed top wall or closure portion of the container. In addition, the use of a rubber sealing gasket between the cup ad domed wall involved an additional step in the assembly, and the gasket sometimes tended to cause contamination of the contents of the container. As a result, the assembly time and consequently the cost of producing such dispensers tended to be considerable. In addition, where prior dispensers have employed plastic containers, there has been a tendency for the plastic to shrink, causing an undesirable looseness of the parts, and thus increasing the likelihood of leakage and malfunction of the device.